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Chapter 160: Everyday (2)

But when it was revealed that Woo Sung-Chan was the perpetrator in a school violence case, his brief peak of three months came to an end, resulting in his expulsion from the entertainment industry.

The extent of the victim\'s resentment was evident when they posted a heartfelt plea on the Blue House\'s petition board, shocking netizens. And those records remained in my planner.

Anyway, the audition requirement for The Master of Mukbang included being good at cooking. This was because the main lead had to film a cooking entertainment show called Mukbang\'s Table along with the drama.

Woo Sung-Chan met the criteria because his parents owned a famous Korean restaurant in Jamsil. But if it were Haru, I thought he would do even better than Woo Sung-Chan. While Woo Sung-Chan was undeniably handsome, he still fell a few grades short of Haru\'s striking looks. Furthermore, Haru\'s culinary skills were also superior.

Haru finally nodded his head after much deliberation upon hearing that he would be on the show next month.

"I\'ll do as you say, hyung."

His tightly pursed lips showed that being assigned a task had motivated him.

"Great. You can trust me," I assured him.

Now, the only thing left was to check Haru\'s height.

"Haru, let\'s get changed if you\'ve finished eating. Leave the dishes in the sink. I\'ll do them later."

Haru, who was about to wash the dishes right after eating, looked up at me with wide eyes.

"Where are we going?" Haru asked.

"To the clinic."

"The clinic?"

"Yeah, to check how tall you can grow."

I took Haru to Kim Soo-Myung\'s Life Extension Clinic, which also served as a growth clinic.

***

In my past life, Haru\'s height was listed as 170 cm on his profile. But in reality, it was just over 168 cm.

However, I was surprised by the unexpected result when we went ahead with the test.

"Wh-what did you say?" I asked in disbelief.

Kim Soo-Myung began to explain in his usual indifferent tone. "I said his height could reach up to a range between 176 cm and 180 cm."

"Is that really possible?" I questioned further.

"The growth plates don\'t lie," said Kim Soo-Myung nonchalantly.

Haru was waiting outside the consultation room after taking his X-ray while I was alone inside listening to the results.

After Kim Soo-Myung zoomed in on the X-ray image of the growth plates on the screen and concluded his findings, I still couldn\'t believe it. I asked him to check again, but the answer that came back was even more astonishing.

"Really. Even 181 cm might be possible if you try hard enough." Kim Soo-Myung added.

"You mean not 171 cm but 181 cm, right?" I clarified.

Kim Soo-Myung looked puzzled by my repeated questions. "If he eats well and sleeps well, he will definitely fall within the range I mentioned."

"Th-then what if he doesn\'t eat well?" I threw out another question.

Kim Soo-Myung gave me a look as if it was a strange question to ask.

In my past life, Haru was said to have not grown tall because he didn\'t eat well. If his circumstances had been better, and if he had eaten more meat and drank more milk, he would have been taller.

That\'s why I kept clarifying the results with Kim Soo-Myung, but his answer was unexpected.

"Unless it\'s severe malnutrition to the point of starvation, eating habits barely affect one\'s height. It mostly follows what\'s coded in your genes. That\'s why there\'s a predicted range of variance." Kim Soo-Myung explained.

A thought crossed my mind. \'Did he just say it\'s mostly due to genetic factors? Then could it be that in my past life, Haru wasn\'t fed enough to the point he suffered from malnutrition?\'

I felt a strong surge of irritation as the face of Haru\'s father, Lee Hyung-Moon, came to mind.

Noticing my twisted expression, Kim Soo-Myung mentioned another possibility.

"If you\'re worried about him not growing taller, don\'t be. His growth shouldn\'t stop unless the growth plates are damaged by an injury or something."

I tilted my head and asked, "Wait. Growth can stop due to injury?"

In my past life, Haru had been in a traffic accident. He mentioned getting lightly hit in the knee by a reversing car while on an errand. It wasn\'t a major accident, but Kim Soo-Myung explained such incidents could still damage the growth plates.

However, this didn\'t diminish my resentment toward Haru\'s father, Lee Hyung-Moon.

I thought to myself, \'That errand must have surely been for alcohol.\'

Kim Soo-Hyung concluded the check-up. "Seems like there\'s no major issue, so don\'t worry. Let\'s do monthly check-ups and decide on growth hormone injections based on how things go."

"So I just make sure he eats well and gets enough sleep for now?" I asked.

"Exactly."

Grateful to Kim Soo-Myung for not suggesting excessive treatments, I stood up to leave.

\'Should I get Cherry Blossom checked for their growth plates too? Sae-Ri always fantasizes about growing up to 170 cm,\' I wondered.

"Could you check the growth plates for the Cherry Blossom members later too?" I asked.

Kim Soo-Myung organized the files and shook his head. "There\'s no need. From the X-rays taken last time, it seems all their growth plates have closed."

I felt relieved that I was the only one there to hear his reply. If Sae-Ri had heard that, she might end up being depressed for about a week.

I requested Kim Soo-Myung to keep this to himself. "Dr. Kim, please don\'t mention this to Sae-Ri. She\'d be very disappointed to hear that."

Kim Soo-Myung suggested a solution with his usual indifferent demeanor. "I can\'t lie to a patient, so perhaps it\'s better if you ensure that they don\'t ask to be checked at all?"

\'He speaks like it\'s no big deal because it\'s not his problem,\' I remarked inwardly.

Anyway, I now had one more thing to worry about.

***

As we left Kim Soo-Myung\'s clinic, Haru let out a sigh of relief. It seemed he was inwardly concerned about his height.

"That\'s a relief, right?" I asked Haru with a smile.

"It really is, hyung."

With Haru looking a bit cheerier, I decided to head to Cheonho-dong on a whim. I thought it would be good to tell Yoo-Jin that I was planning to move nearby. So I stopped by her place before going to the real estate agency.

Jung In-Ji, the landlord, greeted us warmly.

"My, my. What a handsome young man," Jung In-Ji remarked.

Haru shyly bowed his head with an embarrassed expression.

At times like this, I really wished I could transfer half of Sae-Ri\'s confidence to him.

I updated the landlord on our plans. "Ma\'am, we\'re planning to move around here soon."

"That\'s great. Really great! This neighborhood is a nice place to live," the landlord responded with a huge grin on her face.

Yoo-Jin made us some tea and asked with an excited expression, "When are you moving?"

"Well, I haven\'t even visited the real estate agency yet. So I haven\'t set a schedule, but I came to report to my actress first," I replied in a playful tone.

Yoo-Jin smiled as if she was pleased with the answer. "I like that response."

Yoo-Jin rated the response 99 out of 100.

Then Miso started tugging at my pants.

"What\'s up, Miso?"

"Uncle Yoon-Ho, can\'t you move into the rooftop room above ours?"

"The apartment above? The rooftop room?"

Miso nodded. "Yes, the one above us."

Yoo-Jin\'s house had a rooftop room in their three-story building. Though it was called a rooftop room, it was quite spacious with two rooms and even a yard for a deck.

It was built by the late husband of Yoo-Jin\'s landlord who dreamed of three generations, from his son to his grandson, living together.

However, the third floor was currently almost abandoned and used as a storage space.

"If Uncle Yoon-Ho moves in, we can play every day," Miso added.

As Miso blinked her big eyes pleadingly, Yoo-Jin stepped in. "Miso, no. That rooftop room hasn\'t been used for so long and..."

At that moment, the landlord intervened.

"Well, it\'s just a bit run-down. We can call someone to fix it up quickly, and I can take care of Haru\'s meals when Assistant Manager Jung isn\'t around. That would be nice."

Hearing Jung In-Ji\'s words, both Yoo-Jin and Miso looked at me with eager eyes.

I was about to ask if Haru would be uncomfortable, but there was no need to worry. Haru had already befriended Miso and was standing next to her. Both of them were looking up at me, like a pair of cats in boots staring at me.

"Would you be okay living here, hyung?" Haru asked.

\'Yeah, it\'s fine. It\'s 100% fine,\' I thought to myself.

I felt myself being drawn into Haru\'s eyes. They used to say that Haru had "mysterious charms" and I used to laugh at such odd terms, but it really did feel like I was being sucked in by his gaze.

"Then I\'ll get permission from the company first," I replied.

When I explained the situation over the phone, the company responded positively and even offered to cover the interior design expenses.

Thanks to this, it was settled that we\'d rent the third floor of the house in Cheonho-dong where Yoo-Jin lived.

"Okay. I got the company\'s permission," I updated everyone.

The moment I hung up the phone, Miso raised the hand she was holding with Haru high into the air.

"Hooray!"

Seeing their joyous cheer, I left Haru in the care of the landlord.

"Ma\'am, could you please take care of Haru just for today?"

"Is there something you need to do?"

"Yes, I\'m a bit busy today."

Now, it was time to execute the plan to recruit top star Park Eun-Sung which I had previously discussed with Kang Ji-Yung.

Tonight, Park Eun-Sung would be abducted by thugs sent by a new entertainment company called Kanghan Entertainment. Kanghan Entertainment had acquired Park Eun-Sung\'s agency, Blue Entertainment, hoping to have him on board. However, Park Eun-Sung had refused to renew his contract with them.

After being abducted, Park Eun-Sung ended up signing a five-year contract under duress for some reason. This incident never made it to the news and was covered up.

However, Park Eun-Sung would later on transfer to Top Entertainment and reveal this ordeal to me, including the exact location and time of his capture.

***

Thump, thump, thump.

In a back alley of Jamsil, Park Eun-Sung was darting through the alleyways and gasping for breath.

"Huff, huff, huff. Damn it."

Park Eun-Sun had run away without thinking when he saw the talent agent he had been with for three years whispering with some thuggish-looking men.

He knew he had been under surveillance lately but hadn\'t taken it seriously as he never imagined that they would dare lay a finger on a top star like him. He had also never expected his own agency to be involved in something like that. However, he was greatly mistaken.

Park Eun-Sung twisted and turned through the dimly lit alleyways, making his way toward the main street.

There were studio apartments around, but he couldn\'t yell for help. After all, his reputation would be ruined if a photo of him being chased by gangsters got out. To make matters worse, he couldn\'t call the police because he had dropped his phone.

The only good thing was that he was familiar with the area, having lived here as a child.

Desperately gasping for air, Park Eun-Sung turned into the last alleyway.

\'Just 50 m more to the main street,\' he thought to himself.

At that moment, he saw a man in a suit blocking the way to the main street.

"Huff! Just a moment! Just let me see the boss! Why do you have to run so fast?"

The man in the suit was about 30 m away, blocking the path. The only unblocked paths were the alleyway he came from and the one to his left which looped around.

But then another man in a suit appeared in the alleyway he had come from.

"Looks like there\'s some misunderstanding. Let\'s just talk this out," said Park Eun-Sung as he struggled to catch his breath.

The only clear path now was the left alleyway. It was a road big enough for cars, but it looped around too much to quickly reach the main road.

He felt like giving up as his legs started to wobble.

At that moment, a Merciless Bends stopped in front of Park Eun-Sung and the passenger door swung open.

Screech!

"Hurry, get in!"

"You are..." Park Eun-Sung asked with his voice trailing off.

"We can talk later. But first, we need to shake those guys off! Quick!"

Park Eun-Sung quickly jumped into the Merciless Bends, leaving the shouts of the thugs behind him.

***

Park Eun-Sung and I had exchanged greetings before while filming The Morning Takes Off, so we were already acquainted. We were on good terms as he had taken a memorable slap from Yoo-Jin and came to greet us after the shoot.

"Huff, huff. How...how did you come to be here, Assistant Manager Jung?"

I casually lied that I was on my way home, which wasn\'t entirely false since my one-room apartment was in Jamsil.

"I was heading home when I saw someone being chased by thugs. But what\'s going on here?"

"Ah, that... l-let\'s talk about it later."

Park Eun-Sung leaned back in his seat with a troubled expression.

"Here, have some water first," I said as I handed him a bottle of water I had prepared.

The visibly shaken Park Eun-Sung took the bottle and gulped it down in one go.

After finally calming down, Park Eun-Sung began to take a look around and asked, "Where are we heading right now?"

His voice was tense, perhaps due to the near-abduction experience.

"I don\'t know your situation well, but it seems it\'s not safe for you to go home now. Why don\'t you spend the night at a hotel?"

"Then please take me to Rich Hotel. That\'s where I usually..."

"That\'s not a good idea," I interrupted.

"Excuse me?"

"Your movements are probably known to those guys. Let\'s go to the Intercontinental Hotel instead."

Park Eun-Sung nodded in agreement. "That makes sense."

"Just relax and think of me as your talent agent for today. Leave it to me."

"Sigh. Alright. I\'ll be in your debt then."

Leaning back into his seat, the evidently exhausted Park Eun-Sung soon started snoring.

"He must be really tired," I muttered under my breath.

Persuading him would be a challenge. While Kanghan Entertainment was certainly a concern, they were still manageable at this early stage of their operations.

The real issue was with Park Eun-Sung himself, because his personality had one fatal flaw.